There is a growing need for new approaches for generating non-specific protection from viral and bacterial infections without having to resort to the use of antibiotics or other antimicrobial drugs, which serve to stimulate the development of antibiotic resistance. Currently however there are few immunostimulatory compounds that are capable of eliciting rapid and sustained activation of innate immune responses at mucosal surfaces such as the nasopharynx, upper respiratory tract, GI tract, and reproductive tract to generate protection from infection. The current invention is a composition designed to adhere to and rapidly activate immunity at mucosal surfaces, and to also persist in this location and generate sustained local immune activation. By so doing, this mucosal immune stimulatory composition generates non-specific protection from infection with pathogens including bacteria and viruses that infect the respiratory tract and other mucosal surfaces.
There is a need in the art for novel compositions and methods to enhance innate immune responses at mucosal surfaces for non-specific protection from viral or bacterial infections, as well as to increase the efficacy of existing vaccines.